Chiefs take to the African bush
By Mark Stevens
13/1/23
Exeter Chiefs players know they have to tackle some African beasts when they face the Vodacom Bulls in Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup clash at Loftus Versfeld.
However, ahead of that much-anticipated Round Three encounter, Rob Baxter’s squad have been getting up close and personal with other imposing characters in the South African bush.
Taking time out from their intense training programme in Pretoria, the Chiefs squad headed 30 minutes north of the city to the hugely impressive Tshikwalo Game Lodge, which is situated within the Dinokeng Game Reserve.
Dinokeng is the first free-roaming Big 5 game reserve in Gauteng, offering an amazing African bush experience for visitors.
Organised by the club’s Head of Strength & Conditioning, Mark Twiggs, the Chiefs group rose early on Thursday morning to experience the three-hour drive, which covered part of the 52,000 acre reserve, which lies in the catchment area of two rivers that flow into the Olifants and Limpopo rivers and on to the Indian Ocean.
In addition to the Big Five animals (lion, leopard, elephant, Cape buffalo and rhino), the reserve also plays home to cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, brown hyenas, wildebeests, kudu, impalas, antelopes, monkeys, hippos and crocodiles.
There are also more than 300 species of birds, including: ostrich, ospreys, martial eagles, guineafowl, herons and the endangered blue crane.
